Break a leg

"Break a leg" is an English-language idiom used in the context of theatre or other performing arts to wish a performer "good luck". An ironic or non-literal saying of uncertain origin (a dead metaphor), "break a leg" is commonly said to actors and musicians before they go on stage to perform or before an audition. Though a similar and potentially related term seems to have first existed in German without theatrical associations, the English theatre expression with its luck-based meaning is first attributed in the 1930s or possibly 1920s.